Handcrafting a vibrant Arab world

Nakba Shrinky Dink Key Chain {Tutorial}

Nakba Day (Arabic: يوم النكبة in Arabic, which means meaning “Day of the Catastrophe”) is observed on 15 May.

For Palestinians it is an annual day of commemoration of the displacement from their homes.

During the 1948 Palestine war, hundreds of thousands fled or were expelled, and their towns and villages were destroyed.

The key is a symbol of the houses which Palestinians left as part of the Nakba. We have made a key charm before, so today my daughter and I made a key chain out of shrinky dink. We included a key, an outline of Palestine in 1948 that has a keffiyeh design inside, plus a Palestinian flag.

Supplies

White shrinky dink

Palestine shapes found online

Sharpies in Black, Green and Red

Scissors

Key chain

O-rings

Pliers

Hole punch

My daughter started by tracing out the flag design on the white shrinky dink, then she cut it out. She used the Sharpies to fill in the colors: red on the triangle, black on the top panel and green on the bottom panel. Once she had finished coloring in the flag, she placed a hole in the upper left corner.

We read the instructions on the back of the shrinky dink packaging to see how to heat them up in our oven. After the flag came out of the oven and had cooled, my daughter added the O-ring to it with the pliers to secure it to the key chain.

She traced out the key and country outline next, before spending some time coloring them in as well.